Snowmobiles are well known and have been used for many years. Improvements have been made to snowmobiles through various innovations as described in the patent literature. Improvements to steering and suspension have also been realized. Negotiating turns for snowmobile operators is always a concern as the snowmobile sled might be over turned if the turn is negotiated at a higher speed, particular if the operator has not learned to lean into the turn which is dependent on ones physical dexterity.
Applicant is aware of the following literature which as been reviewed in view of the present invention which is considered as prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,516 issued Aug. 6, 1974 to Lucia describes a mechanism for combining steering and tilt control of the skis, when the turning movement of the skis is provided through the rotation of two substantially vertical king pins as shown in the illustrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,812 issued Oct. 19, 1971 to Hetteen describes a snowmobile which includes a spindle connected to each ski through a spring mechanism including springs and a shock absorber as seen in FIG. 4.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,578 permits a ski to be rotated on a horizontal plane to guide the snowmobile, about pin 24 in an essentially vertically plane to compensate for terrain irregularities. The patent includes the leaf spring arrangement to provide for terrain irregularities.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,664 issued Jul. 9, 1991 to Zulawski teaches a suspension system for skis of a snowmobile which includes an arrangement for controlling movement of steering point of each respective ski.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,947 describes and teaches an anti-roll torsion bar stabilizing system for a snowmobile.
U.S. Patent application 2002/0175013 published Nov. 28, 2002 describes a complex suspension system for a snowmobile assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,446 issued May 23, 1972 to Burtis teaches an articulating snowmobile vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,172 issued May 7, 1974 to Hendrickson purports to teach mounting of a shock absorber arrangement.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,219 issued May 22, 1973 to Christenscen teaches a steering system for a snowmobile to lessen the stabilizing forces acting ahead of the center of gravity of such snowmobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,521 teaches a snowmobile ski suspension including the steering arrangement for skis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,648 issued Jul. 13, 2001 to Sette teaches a system for engaging the steering rod to a steering gear in a steerable vehicle or a snowmobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,262 issued May 27, 2001 to Moore teaches a snowmobile steering and suspension mechanism as seen in relation to FIG. 2 which incorporates as best seen in FIG. 8 with the use of a trailing brace arm, which includes a frame and shock absorbers and fixed length tie rods to trailing brace arms extending between the snowmobile frame and a pair of skis and the conventional steering spindle on each set of skis for effecting the steering action of the handle bar. The shock absorbers are connected between the frame and the trailing brace arms, which causes the skis in turn to shift the weight of the snowmobile towards the inside of a turn. The teachings of this reference therefore point in an opposite direction with respect to applicant's invention. The purpose of applicants invention is to impart a higher force on the outside ski when negotiating a turn.
Nowhere in the prior art is there found, within the patent literature to the best of applicant's knowledge a snowmobile assembly or a kit of components to convert the steering action of a snowmobile assembly to allow for increased pressure on the outside ski when negotiating turn.
However, in spite of the general discussions in the above-mentioned patent literature there is no discussion of the present problems facing the snowmobile enthusiast when negotiating turns.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide improvements in snowmobile steering resulting in performance enhancement of the snowmobile when negotiating turns.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a kit of components which may be installed on existing snowmobiles to realize the improvement in turning performance of the steering and suspension thereof.
Further and other objects of the invention may become apparent to those skilled in the art when considering the following summary of the invention and a more detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated herein.